Dominican Republic guide 2016: Political stability

The Dominican Republic’s president has a
strong and consistent approval rating. The
country’s thriving economy is certainly a big
factor in his popularity, but he has also lived up to his
pledges to develop education, infrastructure and
security.

Medina is undeniably popular. His approval rating has
remained consistently above 60%, across many surveys. In many
polls, his approval rating still touches 90%. No serious
independent analysts expect a surprise at the polls in May
when Medina runs for re-election.

However, while Latin America has seen other popular
presidents in the recent past, they have typically been
populists; a cult of personality draped in nationalism often
uniting populations through the portrayal of malevolent,
usually foreign, forces. Their economic policies have tended
to come from the 'unorthodox’ category and their
longer-term financial impact can be seen in
Venezuela’s current fight against default and
economic collapse and in Argentina where president Mauricio
Macri has taken on a difficult inheritance.

But, the economic reality of the Dominican Republic is
very different from these examples. Growth is the fastest in
the region and the IMF praised the country’s
economic and financial progress following its most recent
Article IV visit in December 2015. That the Dominican
Republic can combine economic and political stability is an
important part of the country’s appeal to
international companies and investors. So how has Medina
managed to earn popularity without populism?

A part of the answer is the economic growth the country
has enjoyed under his first administration. The economy has
produced hundreds of thousands of new jobs and boosted
average GDP per head. A strong financial system has extended
into the growing wealth of the lower social classes,
extending credit and financial inclusion and sharing the
economy’s newfound wealth.

However, economic development is not the sole reason for
Medina’s popularity. Rather it is the
president’s ability to appeal to all sections of
the country, whether rural or urban, which drives his
approval ratings.

Administrative minister José Ramón Peralta
says that comes from a powerful, simple and yet rare strategy
of delivering on election promises. "When we were campaigning
in the rural communities we would often hear the comment:
'You are only here for our votes today, you tell us what we
want to hear but after you’ve won the election
we won’t see you again until the next
election’," says Peralta. "That comment stayed
with president Medina and so after he was elected we
implemented a programme of surprise visits whereby the
president visits rural communities to keep a strong
connection and help deliver practical and financial support
to enable them to develop in a way they want."

These surprise visits, covered in the local media, have
boosted the president’s support across the
country, and not just in the areas directly concerned. A key
part of these visits is the provision of practical support
for local businesses. The government, in cooperation with the
agricultural bank and Banreservas, the state-owned commercial
bank, delivers business training (including support for
identifying and targeting domestic and international markets
for local products and services) and financial support
through a myriad of financial projects aimed at these rural
communities. Peralta says that the visits not only leave a
legacy of economic growth for these communities but he also
attributes the relative low rates of rural migration to
cities to this initiative.

Simon Lizardo
minister of finance

The president has also delivered on his 2012 election pledge
to spend 4% of GDP on education. This has led to a radical
improvement in the education infrastructure (23,000 new
classrooms built in the past three years – more than
in the previous 60 years) and quality (teachers’
pay has doubled and training improved). Illiteracy has almost
been eradicated. The government has also consolidated what
was a fragmented school day and now provides school meals.
This increases the quality of children’s
nutrition and their school hours, helping more parents to get
jobs and boost family incomes.

With the completion of the bulk of infrastructure
development plans, Medina intends in his second
administration to free up resources for a 'Digital
DR’ scheme to provide computer and internet
access to all schoolchildren in the country, preparing the
economy for future skills-based competition.

Security in the country has also been improved, with crime
rates down from 24.3 per 100,000 people to 16.2%. Progressive
immigration policies have been enacted to manage economic
migration from neighbouring countries, with the aim of
boosting economic development and stability.

"We are working towards building the prosperity of
everyone in the country – and not just certain
groups," says Peralta. "By clearly delivering what we
committed to in the last election campaign we are confident
we will be given the broadest of mandates to carry on our
work."

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